Go out into the world...

The Scriptures provide us clues for how to look at the patterns of God’s revelation in time. If the descendants of Abraham were the people of God through whom the whole world would be blessed, (Genesis 12:1-2) then they were the prism through which the world would experience the revelation of God’s Word. They were the “light to the nations” and this was proclaimed with full knowledge that they were sometimes obedient and sometimes disobedient. When they were disobedient, they distorted the revelation that God sought to “incarnate” through them.

Jesus became the embodiment of obedient Israel in one person. Note the parallels. The birth was beyond human explanation. Each was proclaimed to be God’s first-born son. (Exodus 4:22, Jeremiah 31:9, Psalm 89:27). Both journeyed down into Egypt for survival. Both experienced a wilderness journey of testing. That testing centered around bread, power and the miraculous. The kingship of each was centered in Jerusalem.

By looking at the physical structure of our universe, one can note a pattern that can provide us with a metaphor for how God works. Whether you look at the structure of a molecule or the structure of the solar system, the pattern is the same. There is a sun or nucleus and planets or electrons that circle around it. It is as if each small unit and the whole have the same pattern. Therefore you can examine the smallest part and learn about the whole or vice versa. The same is true in God’s relationship with the world. If you read about the history of Israel, you can see that same history “fulfilled” in the person of Jesus. It is as if, by looking at either history, you can discover clues of how God works in this universe. Each unit and the whole have the same pattern. As we seek to listen to the Word of God through the church, we apply the “canon”, or pattern which we see in Scripture to the church before us. By examining how God worked in Israel or in Christ, you can also discover how God works in the Body of Christ.

In seminary the person studying for the ministry is taught how to exegete Scripture. That is, they are taught how to critically examine Scripture with the intent of explaining what God is saying through a particular passage. They are also warned against the dangers of exegeting Scripture or reading into Scripture what we want it to say rather than listening to what it is trying to say. I want to explore the possibility that the Word of God is expressed in the life of the church. I am suggesting that the Body of Christ may be more than a metaphor. What if we took seriously that in some mysterious way the word of God continues to be expressed in the Body of Christ.

If we are to hear the Word of God as it is revealed in the life of the church in our time, we must also learn to exegete the Body of Christ. This is not a simple task. We must be careful not to become literalists in the process and succumb to the sin of idolatry. We must also be cautious about reading into the life of the church what we want it to say. Our task is to critically examine and seek to hear what God is saying through the Christ made flesh in the body we call the church. We must seek to listen to the truth as it is encased in the concrete reality of the Body.

How do you exegete a congregation? You cannot just take an action of a congregation and say that that reflects the Word of God. It is clear that congregations do some very sinful things. Like Jesus’ first disciples, we misunderstand, disobey and are just simply rebellious. At the same time, if we believe that the church is the Body of Christ, and therefore in some unique way embodies or incarnates the Word of God, then how do we hear that Word of God?

If you simply assume that the church is just an organization in which individuals decide what is inspiring and what is not, then you return Christianity to an individualistic religion with everyone being their own judge. What we are looking for is some combination of reading the patterns in a congregation and measuring them by the canon of Scripture so that we might discern how to listen to God express the Word in the congregation? We need to think of the history of a congregation as a parable which God has spoken to the world. Like Jesus’ parables, the characters and the action are easily identifiable as the ordinary lives of people, but like in many of Jesus’ parables, there is often a surprising twist in the congregational life through which the Word is revealed.

The nine thesis articulated in previous blogs are the promise of the community gathered in Christ’s name.

Of course not everyone experiences all of this when they participate in the life of the church. They come with low expectations rather than anticipating meeting Christ and their expectations are fulfilled. How often do we come to church wondering if we will hear a good sermon or wondering if the children will behave or wishing that we were someplace else?

Although it is God who comes to us, it is quite possible that the noise in our heads and the barrenness of our soul permit us to ignore that which is going on in our midst. The task of ministry, the ministry of the whole people of God, is to help the members of the church to discern the Word which is expressed in the life of the body. We need to enable people to become articulate about what is already taking place in the church.

I will explore this in future blogs but it is worthy of reflection how you see the church enabling each other to perceive the divine reality all around them.

Continuing the nine thesis of how we experience salvation in the ordinary life of the church.

Seventh, in a culture that threatens to abandon its children to poor education, poor health and unstable families, the church offers a source of strength for family bonds and the news that all children are loved and valued. Even when the biological bonds are broken in our society, the church provides a new definition of family that offers a renewed sense of belonging. Recall Jesus’ definition of family in Mark 3:31-35. “Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

Eighth, in a culture that treats the elderly as worn out pieces of society’s all-important machine, the church proclaims that each person has gifts from God which are essential to the upbuilding of the community of faith. It may be instructive to the Christian community to recall that Abraham and Sarah didn’t begin their journey of faith until they were quite old and the critical birth by which the people of God was perpetuated didn’t occur, according to Scripture’s own testimony, until by worldly standards Sara was too old to have children. And in the New Testament, according to Luke 2:22-38 it was two elderly people in the temple who recognized Jesus for who he truely was. “At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.”

Ninth, in a culture that daily discovers the complexity of moral decision-making, the church offers a community in which people might explore all the issues which trouble them in the light of the Gospel of grace and forgiveness. Saved from the need to be right, this belongs to God, we are liberated to learn from each other the glimpses that each of us have of the truth. Our loyalty is not to a particular truth but to the God who truly has the knowledge of good and evil.

Continuing my nine thesis of how we experience salvation in the ordinary life of the church.

Fourth, in a culture that trumpets the survival of the fittest, the church offers a healing community which allows God’s strength to be made perfect in our freely acknowledged weakness. We are saved from the need to be perfect. Consider what a powerful message this is for a society that is enslaved to competitiveness.

Fifth, in a culture that places incredible stress and pressure on people’s lives, the church offers us a regular Sabbath where we can step off the treadmill and refocus on the meaning of life through regular worship, prayer and study of God’s Word in the community. It is very easy to lose sight of what is important in life. The Sabbath calls a halt to our compulsion to achieve and refocuses our awareness that real meaning is found in relationships with God and neighbor.

Sixth, in a culture that is increasingly fractured by the tribalism of ethnic, sexual and age divisions, the church offers the witness of Christ who breaks down the barriers that divide us and offers hospitiality to all strangers who desire to experience the healing love of God. While we may struggle to embody this reality, we are continually presented with the saving truth that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Godself and not counting our trespasses against us (2 Corinthians 5:19). It is this central truth that enables us to even consider the possibility of loving our enemy.